The ride

As you might have read in one of my earlier blogs; I have bought a new bicycle! I've been using it for some commuting rides, but didn't use it to go for a longer ride yet due to circumstances. Until today!
There were no other activities, the weather was good and I've recovered enough from the flu. So together with my cycling buddies I went for a ride.

The route

We didn't plan a route in advance for the ride on Saturday. There wasn't a lot of wind, so the direction wasn't an issue. We headed north into the direction of Amsterdam. I now remember why I always plan a route in advance. We ended up in the Schiphol area, which is the largest airport of The Netherlands. Besides the noise of the planes taking off, the area consists of cargo depots, hotels and parking lots. Not the environment I like to ride in.
But it's something to keep in mind for next time: we should plan a route in advance again.

The stats

It was quite a while ago that I had made a longer ride and despite the fact that I have a lighter and more aerodynamic bicycle, the ride was quite exhausting. It must have something to do with a decreased fitness because of the flu I had. Especially the last few kilometers I was struggling to follow my buddies who have been cycling a lot more than I did this year.

Anyways, I've finished the 67 kilometers within 2,5 hours and an average speed of 27,4. The average could have been higher, but we had quite a lot of traffic lights around the airport.
The average heart rate of 145 bpm is also quite high. As I mentioned before, I was struggling a bit on the way back, what caused my heart rate to be in zone 5 for quite some time.
That will probably get better when I make some more longer rides.

The goals

Just like last year I've set my goal to cycle 5000 kilometers on my road bicycle. I've been lagging a bit with a spring holiday and the flu, but I'm picking it up now with my new bicycle.
I've covered just over 750 kilometers this year which is 15% of my yearly goal. There are enough days left to catch up with the backlog I currently have.

Sunday ChitChat

My fellow Cycling Community moderator @nanixxx recently introduced the #SundayChitChat, a cool initiative to get more interaction from the cyclists on Hive.
The question for this week was:

Do you think of Hive while cycling?



The answer is sometimes. Today I was cycling together with my buddies and we were talking a lot along the way, so I don't think about Hive then.
I do sometimes take some pictures during my ride that I especially make for sharing in blog or PeakD snaps.

Thanks for reading my blog. I’d love to hear your thoughts about my blog. Feel free to share your perspective in the comments.

Friendlymoose